


The Great Stronghold Breakout

by segerge



Series: TASK FORCE [49]
Category: HERO Champions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:22:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6675910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/segerge/pseuds/segerge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(July 2009) Shadow Destroyer needs the Cosmic Halberd of the supervillain Valak the World-Ravager as a power source for his time-travelling device.  He also needs a distraction to keep TASK FORCE from interfering in his attempt to save his timeline.  Fortunately for him, both can be found at the same place...</p><p>My take on a canon Champions Universe event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Stronghold Breakout

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings** : Language, aliens, intense action sequences, some deaths, lots of time travel, continuity porn, futureshadowing
> 
> * * *
> 
> #### DRAMATIS PERSONAE
> 
> **TASK FORCE (covert American supergroup)**
> 
>   * LTG Ted Jameson (AKA Ranger), Director of PRIMUS, disgustingly-powerful speedster
>   * Julie Dormyer Hawkins (AKA Ladyhawk), Chairman of the Board of Directors for ProStar, disgustingly-powerful ninja with latent powers of temporal visualization
>   * Dr. Bob Hawkins (AKA Starforce), Senior Research Scientist for ProStar, disgustingly-powerful power-armor wearer/gadgeteer
>   * Olivia d'Alembert (AKA Thelambra), supermodel, wife of Ted Jameson, luck-based Empyrean telekinetic
>   * David Kayami (AKA Grandfather), disgustingly-powerful Navajo-themed supermage/cleric
>   * Jason Kayami (AKA Ghostbane), Brick with power of magic absorption
> 

> 
> **Villains**
> 
>   * James Harmon III (AKA Shadow Destroyer), alternate timeline version of Doctor Destroyer
>   * Dr. Albert Zerstoiten (AKA Doctor Destroyer), expy of Doctor Doom in the Champions Universe
>   * Sennacherib, AI of the original Doctor Destroyer
>   * Valak the World-Ravager, disgustingly-powerful cosmic killing machine from the Sextans Dwarf Galaxy
>   * Alejandro Medina (AKA Menton), disgustingly-powerful psionic
>   * Kim Culhane (AKA Copycat), disgustingly-powerful mimic
>   * Keera Hancock (AKA Ambush), teleporting cocaine addict
> 

> 
> **Other**
> 
>   * Frederick Grasse, Chief of Security, Stronghold Supermax Federal Penitentiary
> 

> 
> **AUTHOR'S NOTE 1** : Telepathy is denoted by (( )), internal monologue by [[ ]]
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S NOTE 2** : Some knowledge of the final scene of "The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer" is helpful but not necessary to understand most of the action that takes place in April 1986.
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S NOTE 3** : Some knowledge of the 5th Edition Champions sourcebook "Stronghold" is helpful but not necessary to understand the action that takes place throughout the prison complex.
> 
> * * *

(outside Salem, VA. July 2009)

(Shadow Destroyer walks around a laboratory bench in the abandoned ARGENT base which he has taken over. Sitting on the bench is a round, techno-magical construct with some crystalline controls and a cylindrical hole on top. A Corrupted One and two Harnessed Shadows wait on him)

 **Corrupted One** : "What are we looking at, Master?"

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "My time machine. Finally complete!"

 **Corrupted One** : "Congratulations, Master."

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Don't congratulate me yet until my timeline is once more back into existence."

(he walks around it some more, regarding his latest creation)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "I only regret that I could not make it a true portal into the past like I wanted. I will need to keep the device powered here in the present while I go back to April 1986 and prevent TASK FORCE's journey with Die Glocke."

 **Corrupted One** : "Couldn't you have worked on it some more to... make it do that?"

 **Shadow Destroyer** (bellowing): "SILENCE!!!"

 **Corrupted One** (bowing): "Sorry, Master."

(Shadow Destroyer turns around to the Holotank also in the lab)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (manipulating controls): "And now, to acquire its power source."

(a life-size model of an alien-looking polearm, crackling with purplish-black energy, now spins in the Holotank)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "The Cosmic Halberd, wielded by some extragalactic beserker. An advanced Hyperspatial Siphon, based on the notes I hacked from the Justice Squadron!" (beat) "Those simpletons never *realized* what they had when they sent it to their so-called Maximum Security Prison for protection!"

 **Corrupted One** : "How will you acquire it, Master?"

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "The old-fashioned way. I'll *steal* it." (beat) "Now leave me. I must concentrate on my plan."

 **Corrupted One** : "Yes, Master."

(he turns and leaves the lab. Shadow Destroyer now begins to pull up more diagrams of a solitary mesa in a desert with a hexagonal building on top and 10 levels dug into it)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Devil's Head Mesa, New Mexico. Site of the Stronghold Supermax Federal Penitentiary." (beat) "Allegedly, the most secure prison in the world."

(he zooms the holotank on the western end of the building at the top of the mesa)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Goodman Institute established secure laboratory space immediately after the beserker's incarceration in 2006 after some strained diplomacy between PRIMUS and the Star*Guard. If the Cosmic Halberd is ANYWHERE, it will be there."

(long pause)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (musing): "A simple smash-and-grab will put me up against the entire armed might of that prison. That's a no-go from the start."

(he idly goes through each level of the prison, scanning the manifest of inmates for each level)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "If I only knew what I was looking for..."

(he finds it on Level 10, reviewing the manifest of inmates currently in hot-sleep)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "MENTON is in hot-sleep here? Oh, that is *so* rich!"

(he contemplates the Hot Sleep Containment Unit on Level 10, a grin slowly growing behind his helmet)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "That gives me an idea for the PERFECT distraction!"

(he cackles with glee as he cavorts around the Holotank)

* * *

(Vanshakarana, the Vale of Javangiri. Somewhere in the Western Himalayas. One day later)

(Doctor Destroyer walks through the private sections of Vanshakarana that only he can access)

 **Sennacherib** : "It is good to have you back on Earth, Master. Is there anything you require of me?"

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "Status reports on my impostor's activities over the past 72 hours."

 **Sennacherib** : "Compiling now, Master. Do you wish to view them in the Dimensional Research Laboratory?"

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "Yes. Also have two Destroids move my high-energy toolkit from Physics to Dimensional Research while you're at it."

 **Sennacherib** : "Dispatching now, Master." (beat) "The peoples of the Vale rejoice that their God walks among them again. Can I tell them when you expect to speak to them?"

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "Remind me again after I deal with my impostor."

(he stops by a massively-reinforced door, in front of which a forcefield glows. He holds his hand in front of the door sensor to the right. The forcefield fades, then the door swings ponderously open to reveal a large, raised metallic platform that supports two high-tech pillars that curve toward one another)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "The dimensional portal. My gateway to the multiverse."

(the door swings ponderously closed behind him, and there is a hum as the forcefield is re-erected around it)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "My gateway to time itself, now that Destroyer knows that my impostor intends to change it."

 **Sennacherib** : "Shall I send a warning using the Zarathustra protocols?"

(tense pause)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "Yes."

(there is a musical bleep from the door, the forcefield deactivates, and it swings ponderously open to let two Destroids wheeling toolchests in with them)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (continuing): "Who knows? They may get lucky and prevent my impostor from acquiring the Cosmic Halberd."

 **Sennacherib** : "I will send the message immediately, Master."

(their immediate task complete, both Destroids assume parade rest and await further commands from their master as the door swings ponderously shut behind them and the forcefield re-activates)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "When they fail, though, Destroyer shall stand ready to act."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II, Lakewood Village, TX. One day later)

(TASK FORCE is gathered down in the Simulator Room of Bob's personal labs for another mission brief)

 **Grandfather** (to Ted): "You have a new lead on Destroyer?"

 **Ranger** : "I have credible intelligence on his next target."

 **Thelambra** : "Courtesy of Zarathustra?"

 **Ranger** : "Whoever or whatever Zarathustra might be, they have been batting a thousand with regards to tipping us off on Doctor Destroyer's next target. So when they say he is interested in THIS..."

(he touches a control. The holotank zooms in on New Mexico east-northeast of the northern end of White Sands Missile Range and southeast of Albuquerque and focuses on a solitary mesa in the middle of an uninhabited desert)

 **Ranger** (continuing): "...I pay attention."

 **Ghostbane** (puzzled): "Doctor Destroyer's attacking a mesa?"

 **Grandfather** : "That's Devil's Head Mesa in New Mexico, Jason."

 **Ranger** : "The site of the Stronghold Supermax Detention Facility. The world's most secure prison for incarcerating supervillains."

 **Ghostbane** : "Oh. Does he want somebody currently in there, or someTHING?"

 **Ranger** : "*Very* good question, Jason. According to Zarathustra's intel, Destroyer is interested in something currently there. But to understand WHY his target is there, we need to talk about how it originally arrived on Earth."

(the Holotank jumps, displaying a life-sized replica of a dark blue-skinned alien roughly 7 1/2 feet tall wielding some sort of long polearm-looking weapon whose blade crackles with purplish-black energy. He is clad in red armor with orange chest-piece and greaves, and the left hand extended out to the photographer has only three fingers and a thumb)

 **Thelambra** : "Valak the World-Ravager!"

 **Ranger** : "Bob? Take it from here."

 **Starforce** : "PRIMUS's information on Valak comes courtesy of the Star*Guard. According to *their* sources, he was born several hundred years ago on a world somewhere in the Sextans Dwarf Galaxy, a satellite galaxy to our Milky Way approximately 300,000 light-years from Earth. Not much can be confirmed of his early life except that he appears to be his native race's equivalent of a mutant and that he conquered his home galaxy in a very-destructive war before setting his sights on ours."

 **Ranger** : "Why?"

 **Starforce** : "Because it was there."

(he blocks Julie's elbow to his ribs)

 **Starforce** (continuing): "I wish I was kidding when I said that, but no other motivation for his personal invasion of the Milky Way could be found in his mind when the Star*Guard originally incarcerated him in the heart of a rogue planetoid roughly 100 years ago."

 **Grandfather** : "Obviously, he must have broken out of their prison to be on Earth now."

(Bob now has a map up in the Holotank showing the Galaxy spinward and coreward of Earth toward Ixendar. Red circles start appearing one by one, marching from a point roughly halfway between Ixendar and Earth antispinward towards Earth)

 **Starforce** : "It happened four years ago. He spent the next year hopping roughly rimward and anti-spinward from Star*Guard outpost to outpost, destroying them for what they had done to him. The outpost for our sector was the last one he targeted."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Having received advanced warning from CONTROL on Odrugar, the Star*Guard caught up with and engaged him over their base on Europa in May 2006, and stayed with him in a running battle that finally ended with the Justice Squadron, Sentinels, PRIMUS, and UNTIL on the streets of New York."

 **Thelambra** (shudders): "I remember that day."

 **Ghostbane** : "Why New York City?"

 **Starforce** : "If he could make it there, he could make it anywhere."

(Julie finally succeeds in elbowing Bob, because he wasn't attempting to block her this time)

 **Starforce** (recovering): "Sinatra. I love the classics."

 **Ranger** (annoyed, to Bob and Julie): "Guys? Focus!"

 **Grandfather** : "What happened to him after his defeat?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "Valak is a guest of the American taxpayer down on the hot-sleep level of Stronghold, probably next to Menton. His armor and Cosmic Halberd were supposed to go to the Goodman Institute for further research..." (looking at Ted) "...and then that's where things got a little funny."

(awkward pause)

 **Grandfather** (to Ted): "Let me guess. Political pressure?"

 **Ranger** : "The Star*Guard was *extremely* insistent that if we could not properly safeguard Valak's equipment that they would take custody of it. The government was reluctant to turn his kit over, even to the Star*Guard."

 **Ladyhawk** : "So that's why his armor and Cosmic Halberd are at Stronghold as well?"

 **Ranger** : "Having the Institute do the analysis at Stronghold was a compromise that satisfied everyone involved at the time."

 **Grandfather** : "Sounds like it would have been better to just let the Star*Guard take him AND his equipment off our hands."

 **Ghostbane** : "Why the Goodman Institute? Why not let Dr. H analyze it?"

 **Starforce** : "Let me put it to you this way. If you were in charge of Homeland Security and someone asked you if the Son of Doctor Destroyer could examine something called a 'Cosmic Halberd', would YOU have said 'yes'?"

 **Ghostbane** (beat): "Oh."

 **Thelambra** : "You're exaggerating, of course. Right?"

 **Ranger** : "No, he's not."

 **Thelambra** : "So what can his equipment do?"

 **Starforce** : "By startling coincidence, the piece of Valak's kit which concerns all of us right now is the Cosmic Halberd."

(he brings up a schematic of an alien-looking polearm-like weapon with an unusually-bladed head in the Holotank)

 **Starforce** : "In actual combat back in 2006, this weapon cut through EVERYTHING that tried to stop it. Also, thanks to energy scans done by the Justice Squadron's gadgeteer Blink, I have determined that it also served as a Hyperspatial Siphon for Valak to power his more personal superpowers."

 **Thelambra** : "Such as his psionic abilities?"

 **Starforce** : "That, and his movement powers."

 **Grandfather** : "His own miniaturized Mandragalore."

 **Starforce** (deadpan): "Gee, I wonder why Destroyer might want it?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "So let me see if I understand our mission now. You want us to break INTO the most secure prison in the world to keep Doctor Destroyer from stealing..." (pointing at the Cosmic Halberd in the Holotank) "...THAT?"

 **Ranger** : "Unless you're comfortable with Doctor Destroyer using the Cosmic Halberd for his own purposes, yes."

(tense pause, held gaze)

 **Starforce** : "That ought to be fun. When do we start?"

 **Ladyhawk** (elbowing Bob): "Enthusiast."

* * *

(Devil's Head Mesa, NM. Simultaneous with previous scene)

/* gaming note - Shadow Destroyer's VPP is set for +70 Power Defense (Costs Endurance) 4d6 RKA explosion (trigger, 1 charge), and a big megascale teleport usable as an attack to deliver something to him once he's inside */

(Nothing is obvious to normal senses for a 10-mile radius around the lone mesa in northern Lincoln County. If we had the ability to detect invisible and desolidified things, however, we would see Shadow Destroyer flying in barely above the New Mexican desert. Instead of wearing his cape, a different techno-magical construct from the one he was admiring in the first scene is strapped to his back)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Five miles to go. They haven't spotted me yet."

(he's flying in at just over 1,150 kilometers/hour. For those of you who can't handle metric, that's around 715 MPH -- in other words, just under the speed of sound. At this time, he 'hits' the mesa in around 25 seconds)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Get in, drop the bomb on the control console, go to the Goodman Institute's remote lab. The Hot Sleep Containment Unit will then take care of distracting the rest of Stronghold for me while I'm busy changing history."

(Devil's Head Mesa begins to swell rapidly in front of him)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (activating a control): "Let's see how well this blocks their vaunted power-negation tech."

(the techno-magical construct strapped to his back activates as he flies into the mesa. He begins slowing down so he doesn't inadvertantly fly through the prison and out the other side)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Don't want to overshoot my target now."

(he steps through senses both technical and magical as he flies deeper into the mesa)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Don't panic, James old boy. You're right on course..."

(the solid rock of the mesa suddenly becomes an open, constructed void lined with labeled doors)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (savagely): "BINGO!"

(still invisible and desolid, he flies out into the center of Stronghold's Level 10 and up to the Control Tower for that level. He stops next to a duty guard monitoring his console)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "At least my Negation Shield is working. I wouldn't still be out of phase with reality if it wasn't."

(beat, then he drops both invisibility and desolidification while starting the timer on something else he had been carrying)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (to the guard, slapping a brick of C4 onto his console): "Hi. Die!"

(he immediately goes desolid and invisible one second before the explosive detonates. The console which is controlling all hot sleep pods in the Containment Unit is destroyed. The guard which had been monitoring it isn't doing so well, either)

(tense pause, while Shadow Destroyer waits for something to happen. Nothing does)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Oh, for Edom's sake! They must be on reserve power..."

(disgusted with himself, he flies back into the Hot Sleep Containment Unit. Turning his desolidification off, he deactivates all hot-sleep pods one by one)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (going back to desolid mode): "FINALLY! Now to take possession of the Cosmic Halberd."

(still invisible and desolid, he begins to fly up through Stronghold)

* * *

(Main Security, Stronghold. One second later)

(alarms sound all through the Command Center, startling Chief of Security Frederick Grasse from reviewing the iPad relayed to him by a junior guard)

 **Grasse** : "REPORT!"

 **Duty Guard** : "Explosion, Level 10, Hot Sleep Control Center!"

(Grasse's eyes widen in alarm. He slams the master alarm on his console, and emergency lights and klaxons sound)

 **Grasse** (into phone): "LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!"

* * *

(Hot Sleep vault, Level 10, Stronghold. Simultaneous with previous scene)

(Hot sleep has not been as effective against Alejandro 'Menton' Medina as everyone had thought. His mind is so powerful he has been awake for over a year, slowly probing against the network of power negators and conducting reconnaissance on Stronghold. As a result, he is aware of what has happened immediately)

 **Menton** (internal monologue): [[one guard uninjured, one injured... and Zerstoiten?]] (beat) [[wait, that's not him!]]

(he concentrates on the lid of his hot-sleep pod)

 **Menton** (internal monologue): [[time to get out]]

(he tries to use his psychokinesis to rip the pod open. Nothing happens)

 **Menton** (internal monologue): [[figure it out later]] (reaching out psionically to the uninjured guard) ((open Menton's hot-sleep pod))

(beat, then he feels the pod move forward out into the Vault as the latches fire. He also hears the sound of at least three more hot-sleep pods being torn open or destroyed from the inside)

 **Menton** (as the pod lid opens): "What is going on out there?"

(he sits up, unhooking his life support leads as he sees a 7 1/2-foor tall blue alien, a 12-foot tall humanoid form of ice, a humanoid form glowing so intensely that is almost painful to look at, and a man with brown skin radiating intense heat come out of the hot-sleep pods they each have destroyed from within)

 **Blue Alien** (roaring): "MY HALBERD? VALAK DEMANDS MY COSMIC HALBERD BACK!!"

(Menton performs a brief mind-probe of the alien as the intensly-glowing humanoid vanishes into the walls of the Hot Sleep Vault)

 **Menton** (internal monologue): [[such violence in his mind. He would make a perfect distraction for my escape]] (verbally, to Valak) "You should check the top floors, my friend. I expect you shall find your Cosmic Halberd there."

 **Valak** (beat): "I shall kill you last for your help!"

(he takes off flying for the elevator shaft and punches his way through the door with two blows)

 **Menton** (murmured): "You're welcome." (beat, internal monologue) [[perhaps my distraction needs to be... BIGGER?]]

(smiling, he concentrates on locating the Command Center staff in Main Security)

* * *

(Main Security, Stronghold. One second later)

(one by one, unseen by Chief Grasse, the eyes of all the guards manning the Command Center begin to glaze over)

 **Grasse** (on the phone): "No, Warden, I can't reach ANYONE on Level 10..."

(he sees monitors beginning to flicker out of the corner of his eye. Dumbfounded, he watches power negators shut down, level by level, throughout Stronghold)

 **Phone** : "Grasse! What's going on?"

 **Grasse** (whipping out his pistol): "Wingrove, Privett, Miranda? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?"

(The three guards which the duty officer has challenged do not answer. Set for normal damage, he knocks out the three guards in question with expertly-placed blaster shots. The damage, however, has already been done)

 **Phone** (bellowing): "GRASSE?!?"

 **Grasse** (picking up phone): "Menton is free and mind-controlling the staff! Power negation has been shut off facili..."

(finally, Menton gets to him. His eyes glaze over, and the phone drops from his suddenly-limp hand)

 **Phone** : "GRASSE!!!"

* * *

(Level 10, Stronghold. One second later)

(the Hot Sleep Containment Unit is a shambles, between the damage caused by Valak and Glacier escaping through the elevator and the tunnel still glowing and smoking with residual heat that Geothermal left when he exited by a more-direct route. Menton's eyes come back into focus to regard the devastation around him)

 **Menton** : "That should take care of the staff here. Now to see to my own freedom..."

(he looks at Geothermal's escape tunnel for a moment and concentrates, almost as if he was trying to do something)

 **Menton** : "WHY can I not levitate down that tunnel?"

(concerned, he looks toward the ruined elevator shaft)

 **Menton** : "I can't even *teleport* any more!"

(shocked pause)

 **Menton** : "The pulson bolt that nearly killed me back in Guamanga must have caused more damage than I originally thought!" /* "Jungles of Guamanga" */

(beat, while he walks back into the Hot Sleep Containment Unit and regards the two remaining active pods)

 **Menton** (reading the display on Interface's pod): "Why would I require someone who can control machines when I can control the human minds which command THEM?"

(he walks over to the last one)

 **Menton** (reading the display on Copycat's pod): "A metamorph?" (beat) "Now that can be potentially useful!"

(he mentally commands the remaining guard to open Copycat's pod. Pounding and faint screaming can be heard from within it as it rolls out and the latches release, then Kim 'Copycat' Culhane gasps for air as the pod opens)

 **Copycat** : "I never realized just how claustrophobic I was until someone woke me up just now without opening my hot-sleep coffin!"

 **Menton** : "Miss Culhane, you will understand if I do not personally assist you from your hot-sleep pod?"

 **Copycat** : "No problem. I get that quite a bit." (beat, focuses on Menton) "Who are you?"

 **Menton** : "A fellow inmate, freed by the same happenstance which has woken everyone else in Hot Sleep up just now."

 **Copycat** (beat): "What YEAR is this?"

 **Menton** : "2009. How long have you..."

 **Copycat** (interrupting): "I've been locked in that COFFIN for TWENTY YEARS?!?"

 **Menton** : "Miss Culhane, please focus! The exit tunnel left by a fellow prisoner is too lethal for either of us to use, and the elevator out of this level is unusable."

 **Copycat** (getting out of the pod): "There has to be another way out, then. Where are the guards?"

(she locates the guard Menton has been controlling, drooling over by the monitor consoles beyond the entrance to the Containment Unit. Stumbling over to him, she reaches a bare hand out to his face and touches it. Her features blur for a moment, then settle into those of the guard as the guard collapses comatose to the ground)

 **Copycat** (looking at the too-tight prison jumpsuit): "I forgot how much I *hated* turning into a man!"

 **Menton** (annoyed): "Miss Culhane..."

 **Copycat** (starting to strip the guard of his clothes): "Relax. There's a ladder inside the elevator shaft, and there are emergency controls inside the shaft he can access to open the doors to the next level up."

 **Menton** : "Won't we have to climb the entire shaft?"

 **Copycat** (now changing clothes with the guard): "Once we're on Level 9, we'll have access to the stairs at the end of each cell block. Bit of a hike, but you look like you're in shape." (beat, regards her transformed body) "Unlike the guy I'm currently mimicking."

 **Menton** (impatient): "Then hurry up and let's get going!"

 **Copycat** : "All right, hold on! This takes time to do properly, you know."

* * *

(Level 1, Western Hub, Stronghold. One minute later)

(a pinkish-white swirl spins into existence in a deserted conference room. Beat, then TASK FORCE strides through into Stronghold)

 **Thelambra** : "There is a lot of confusion, panic and anger that I am sensing from all around us right now."

 **Ranger** : "From what?"

 **Ladyhawk** (tuning her mask radio rapidly): "Boss, there's a breakout in progress! I'm gettting a lot of *very* panicked comm chatter from all around us!"

 **Grandfather** : "We're too late. Doctor Destroyer must be here, and the breakout is his diversion to hide his search for the Cosmic Halberd."

 **Ranger** : "Then we get to it before he does. Don't panic, people." (beat) "Starforce, where's the Goodman Institute's remote lab?"

 **Starforce** : "Based on the blueprints for the Western Hub, right across the hall from us." (points) "That way."

 **Ranger** : "Scan it. Location of Cosmic Halberd and anyone who may be in there."

 **Starforce** (switching his Immersive VR Environment to Penetrative Radar): "On it, boss."

(tense pause)

 **Starforce** : "Odd-looking construct in the middle of the lab. Several humanoid forms, all but one of which are prone and unmoving..."

(he switches spectral filters to Detect Energy)

 **Starforce** (alarmed): "Hyperspatial siphon signature coincident with theta-boson source, both in the weird construct!"

(shocked pause. Destroyer's beaten them to the Cosmic Halberd as well as to Stronghold)

 **Ranger** : "Grandfather, got the location?"

 **Grandfather** (looking at the image Starforce is blasting over the mind-link): "Yes."

 **Ranger** : "Get us in there. NOW!"

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

* * *

(Goodman Institute Remote Lab Complex. Level 1, Western Hub, Stronghold. Simultaneous with previous scene)

(Shadow Destroyer phases back into existence in the middle of the Goodman Institute's Stronghold Lab)

 **Scientist** : "Hey! What are you..."

(Shadow Destroyer kills him with a 20d6 Darkblast. He kills two more that aren't quick enough to escape the labs)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (taking a techno-magical construct off of his belt): "Now to bring the payload in."

(he presses the button. The construct glows with sickly pinkish-black energy)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(the large techno-magical construct from the first scene is now on the floor of the lab)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Excellent. Now to find the Cosmic Halberd."

(he scans through the various secure lockers before finding it)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (forcing the locker open): "Finally!"

(ripping the door off, he beholds Valak the World-Ravager's Cosmic Halberd for real instead of in holographic simulation. No one can see him smile as he takes it in his gauntlet)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (walking to his time machine): "April 1986, here I come!"

(he sets the Halberd gently into the hole in the top and shoves it down as far as it will go. Beat, while he satisfies himself that the Halberd is sitting in its receptacle correctly, then he presses a button on the time machine. Purplish-black energy begins to course down the length of the Cosmic Halberd from blade to base, and a familiar pinkish-black glow begins to grow within the time machine)

(he senses a familiar dimensional ripple somewhere behind him as a pinkish-black distortion, large enough to allow Shadow Destroyer through, begins to shimmer into existence in front of the time machine/Cosmic Halberd)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

(TASK FORCE flashes into existence in the lab)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (over his shoulder as he turns toward the distortion): "YOU'RE TOO LATE, TASK FORCE!! HAHAhahahaha..."

(he leaps through the now fully-formed distortion and lands on the desert floor outside what can best be described as a mod-art version of Stonehenge made of metallic girders and wires that has a superhero bound to each girder. A large, bell-shaped thing with an embossed swastika on it and Nordic-looking runes around its base dominates the center of the structure. Doctor Destroyer, in crude-looking armor has been interrupted in mid-soliloquy)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (firing a 20d6 Darkblast): "NO!"

(the Darkblast misses Doctor Destroyer and hits an adjacent console, wrecking it. Shadow Destroyer gestures, and the debris flies into the air to assemble themselves around his right gauntlet as a large energy-cannon barrel. Taking another shot at Doctor Destroyer with what is now a 30d6 Darkblast, he misses again)

 **1986!Spiritual Warrior** : "MAGIC?!?"

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "How are you doing that? Neurally-controlled telekinesis with a library of electronically-stored designs? Stand still so I can kill you and find out!"

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "If I kill YOU, here and now, before you can launch Die Glocke, my timeline comes back into existence!"

 **1986!Starforce** : "Okay, I'm confused."

* * *

(Vanshakarana, the Vale of Javangiri, July 2009. One second later)

(an alarm sounds in the air as Doctor Destroyer waits impatiently in his Dimensional Research Lab)

 **Sennacherib** : "Temporal anomaly detected. Origin point, Devil's Head Mesa, New Mexico, North American continent, now. Terminus, Trinity National Historic Site, New Mexico, approximately April 1986."

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "He's after Die Glocke!"

(Destroyer madly types coordinates on the control panel of his portal generator. Beat, then a pinkish-white swirl of energy appears between the two pillars)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (striding toward the portal): "And my impostor thought he could cross swords with DESTROYER'S matchless intellect?"

(one final stride, and he is through to April of 1986 as well. Shadow Destroyer is as surprised as his younger self and TASK FORCE at Destroyer's sudden presence)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (roaring while shooting at Shadow Destroyer): "IMPOSTOR! NO ONE claims the mantle of Destroyer but ME!"

(30d6 APx2 Destroyer-beam knocks Shadow Destroyer back into another console, destroying IT as Shadow Destroyer takes 20 STUN)

 **1986!Starforce** : "I take that back. NOW I'm confused."

* * *

(Transportation Hub, Stronghold, July 2009. One minute later)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(Menton, Copycat, and a muscular black woman flash into existence in the back of the hangar which is a madhouse between the guards and PRIMUS agents defending the cargo VTOLs and at least a dozen other supervillains that have also made it to the transportation hub. Copycat is on her third Stronghold guard now)

 **Menton** (waving a hand over the black woman's eyes): "Go to sleep child. You have served us well."

(the woman's eyes glaze over and she collapses unconscious)

 **Copycat** : "Who WAS she, anyway?"

 **Menton** : "A gang member from Los Angeles who got her powers of teleportation from the after-effects of a cocaine overdose. She used the name, 'Ambush'."

 **Copycat** : "Thank you for not making me mimic her. Chemical dependencies don't agree well with me at all."

(they have yet to be noticed, both because of their location in the hangar and due to the outright chaos currently going on in it)

 **Copycat** : "So how do we get over to the VTOLs?"

 **Menton** : "We walk."

 **Copycat** : "You've got to be kidding me!"

 **Menton** : "Have you seen anyone capable of standing up to my mental powers YET, Miss Culhane?"

(tense pause, held gaze)

 **Copycat** : "Good point."

 **Menton** : "Walk along the perimeter of the hangar until you are as close as you can get to the nearest VTOL. I will be editing our presence in everyone's brain while you do that."

(Copycat gets up from her cover and starts working her way along the back hangar wall to one side. What she doesn't notice is that Menton is not following her)

(by the time she reaches the corner of the hangar, two guards in SPARC armor with four security robots trot into the Hangar. One of the guards looks right at Copycat)

 **SPARC Guard 1** (pointing at Copycat): "It's Menton!!"

 **SPARC Guard 2** (raising his weapon): "BLAST HIM!"

 **Copycat** (screaming in fear): "WAIT! I'M NOT..."

(the SPARC guards and robots all open fire on her, pinning her body to the wall with each blaster bolt that slams into her. Beat, then she falls to the ground, transforming back into her baseline form. She is bleeding and very still)

 **SPARC Guard 1** : "Aw, crap! She was a distraction..."

 **Menton** (in his head): ((you are correct))

(Menton casually seizes control of both SPARC agents. Behind a solid phalanx of them and the security robots, he walks unmolested over to the cargo VTOL while everyone -- guard, agent, and supervillain -- who stands in his way gets mowed down)

 **Menton** (looking into the VTOL with Mind Scan as he finally walks underneath it): "Now, where did the pilots go?"

* * *

(Trinity National Historic Site, April 1986)

 **/* gaming note 1** : Shadow Destroyer's VPP is now set to +10d6 to Destroyer-Beam (8 charges), 4d6+1 APx2 HKA (7d6 w/ STR, 8 charges), and 33d6 Dispel Extra-Dimensional Movement (4 charges). Unless Starforce or either Dr. Destroyer dies (or another console gets destroyed), he won't get to change that */

 **/* gaming note 2** : 2009 Dr. Destroyer's Technological Arsenal is set to +10d6 to Destroyer-Beam (usable once/turn), 1 point RKA Penetratingx2 (3 10-shot autofires), 30d6 Dispel any Tech Device Area of effect cone, 5d6 Suppress Damage Reduction, +15 Mental Defense, and 60 STR TK. */

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(Segment 2. 1986 Doctor Destroyer, winning the DEX 30 roll-off with the other two Destroyers, wordlessly activates his teleportation web power and flees the developing superbattle)

(Doctor Destroyer goes next. He hits Shadow Destroyer with 4 shots from a 10-shot Energetic RPG for 2 BODY and 10 STUN after defenses)

(Shadow Destroyer finally goes. Bleeding, he activates a forcewall and shoots a 30d6 Darkblast from it, hitting Doctor Destroyer for 25 STUN)

(Segment 3. Shadow Destroyer goes first. Using the forcewall as a shield over his right arm, he leaps for Doctor Destroyer, his left arm crawling with sickly black energies as he swings. He hits with a 7d6 APx2 HKA [Qliphotic Punch] for 28 STUN after defenses)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "CONTEMPTIBLE FOOL! Your reliance on magic to augment your technology shall be your DOWNFALL!!"

(Doctor Destroyer empties another 10-shot Energetic RPG clip at point-blank range. Because Shadow Destroyer is so close now, the forcewall takes 4 BODY)

(Segment 5. Shadow Destroyer wins the roll-off again. Changing tactics, he hits Doctor Destroyer with a Lifebleed from the Crown of Night. Doctor Destroyer takes 2 BODY this phase, and will continue to do so every segment until Segment 10)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (angry): "You will PAY for your cowardice, you charlatan!"

(Doctor Destroyer changes strategies on his phase as well. He hits Shadow Destroyer with the "Brainwash" slot of his Synaptic Interference Generator [20d6 Mind Control attack vs. Power Defense instead of Mental])

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "Surrender to me now and I will be merciful."

(Shadow Destroyer shudders and drops his forcewall before catching himself with increased resolve. In spite of that, Doctor Destroyer will now go first next segment)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (struggling against the compulsion): "NEVER!!"

(Segment 6. Doctor Destroyer takes 2 more BODY from the Lifebleed attack which landed in segment 5)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (firing a combined Destroyer-Beam/Telekinesis multiple attack): "Then die as dishonorably as you have lived, impostor!"

(The combo attack does 15 STUN after defenses. The extra shove from Doctor Destroyer's telekinesis, combined with the 20 meters of knockback, overcomes Shadow Destroyer's flight and sends him hurtling out of control across the Trinity Site. He hits the console 1986 Doctor Destroyer was using to control Die Glocke, taking no damage but shorting it out in the process.)

(with a whine of awakening power, Die Glocke activates)

 **1986!Ranger** : "That can't be good."

(Shadow Destroyer looks at Die Glocke, horrified. To him it DEFINITELY isn't good)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (aiming at Die Glocke): "No!"

(before he can shoot, Dr. Destroyer half-move flies over to Shadow Destroyer and grabs his right arm. The Darkblast that would have destroyed Die Glocke misses high and badly)

(Energy builds furiously around Die Glocke as it levitates and begins spinning. Glowing tendrils of energy lash out at the containment mesh to which TASK FORCE is secured)

 **1986!Ladyhawk** (wide-eyed with fear): "Bob?"

 **1986!Starforce** : "What?"

 **1986!Ladyhawk** : "I l..."

(In a searing flash of light, Die Glocke and TASK FORCE vanish)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (screaming): "NOOOOOOOooooooo..."

 **Dr. Destroyer** (shoving his gauntlet into Shadow Destroyer's helmet): "You lose, impostor, as has always been destined. Your tears shall taste like nectar as I feel you die..."

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "HOW? By *talking* me to death?"

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "You cannot be me, impudent fake! You have NO appreciation for the dramatic moments of history!"

 **Shadow Destroyer** (left hand reaching for something on Doctor Destroyer's belt): "I've killed you before, Zerstoiten. I can kill you again!"

(Shadow Destroyer wins the roll-off. His EMP cannon fires, obliterating Dr. Destroyer's recall trigger)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (firing 30d6 APx2 Destroyer-Beam): "You IDIOT! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?"

(Shadow Destroyer takes 2 BODY and 35 STUN, catching himself in mid-air with his flight)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "STRANDED you here, you Nazi bastard! Where you'll finally DIE!!"

(Segment 9. Shadow Destroyer misses with a 30d6 Darkblast)

(Doctor Destroyer hits 8 times with his final 10 rounds of Energetic RPG for 8 BODY and 24 STUN after defenses)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "You uneducated MORON! Is THAT the best soliloquy you can deliver?!?"

* * *

(Goodman Institute Remote Lab Complex, Stronghold, July 2009. Simultaneous with previous July 2009 scene)

(Starforce and Grandfather are frantically examining the techno-magical construct into which the Cosmic Halberd has been plugged into. The Cosmic Halberd is happily pulsing with purplish-black energies running from blade to base, while sickly pinkish-black energies churn within the construct)

 **Starforce** (stressed): "I don't see ANYTHING I can configure my EMP cannon to disrupt! Do you see anything you can do to it magically?"

 **Grandfather** : "If I had more time, I might..."

 **Starforce** (unusually panicked): "We don't HAVE time, Reverend!!"

 **Grandfather** : "Calm down. This isn't like you."

 **Starforce** : "You'd be even more panicked than I am if you saw the sensor readings *I* did when he vanished!" (beat) "Can I destroy it?"

 **Grandfather** (now panicked): "NO! Between the Halberd and the qliphotic energies in that construct, there is no TELLING what the feedback from that would do..."

(Both Ladyhawk and Grandfather's Danger Sense scream for attention)

 **Ladyhawk** (energy shuriken in hand): "DOOR!"

 **Grandfather** (grabbing Starforce): "Away. NOW!"

(as Starforce flash-steps himself and Grandfather away from the time machine+Cosmic Halberd, the door to the lab is destroyed in its frame. Valak the World-Ravager steps in and regards TASK FORCE with undisguised contempt)

 **Starforce** (beat): "I should have worn my brown battlesuit today."

(Valak casually reaches a hand out toward his armor. With a flare of psychokinesis, the pieces fly off the mannequin holding them in place and assemble themselves over Valak's body.)

 **Ghostbane** : "What do we DO?"

 **Ranger** : "Stay back. Do NOT engage!"

(Now armored, Valak steps over to the time machine/Cosmic Halberd and smiles)

 **Valak** (yanking the Cosmic Halberd from the time machine): "And now, Valak the World-Ravager shall claim what is RIGHTFULLY HIS!!"

* * *

(Trinity National Historic Site, April 1986)

(sickening pinkish-black energies suddenly begin to swirl around Shadow Destroyer)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Wait... NO! NOT NOW!!"

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(Shadow Destroyer and the pinkish-black swirl vanish abruptly into thin air)

(long pause, while Doctor Destroyer catches his breath surveying the ruins of his 1986 base at Trinity)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (muttered): "Scheiss."

* * *

(Goodman Institute Remote Lab Complex, Stronghold, July 2009. One second later)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(in a swirl of sickly, pinkish-black energies, Shadow Destroyer appears in front of Valak. He looks significantly the worse for wear, down 10 BODY and 84 STUN from his starting stats when he originally jumped to 1986)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (screaming in frustration): "NO!!!"

 **Ghostbane** : "Who do we FIGHT?"

 **Grandfather** : "No one."

(segment 2, effective DEX 33). Cosmic Halberd in hand and a target within easy reach, Valak swings it at Shadow Destroyer)

 **Valak** : "How DARE you use the Cosmic Halberd!"

(Shadow Destroyer takes 1 BODY and 42 STUN after defenses.

(DEX 30. Shadow Destroyer hits Valak with a Lifebleed that starts draining 2 BODY a segment on Valak for the next six segments. Valak laughs)

 **Starforce** : "So... we just sit back and hope they both lose?"

 **Ranger** : "Basically."

(segment 3, effective DEX 33. Valak tries a different approach this phase)

 **Valak** (using Mind Control on Shadow Destroyer): "Open your armor, little man. Allow me to make your death more merciful than you deserve."

(18d6 Mind Control minus 12 DC Mental Damage Negation makes it a 6d6 attack with a roll of 20 points. Valak doesn't even make it past Shadow Destroyer's Mental Defense)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (laughing): "Is THAT the best you can do?"

(Shadow Destroyer misses Valak with a Drain SPD)

(segment 5, effective DEX 33. Valak is beginning to really feel the effects of the Lifebleed, now down 8 BODY. He's pissed)

 **Valak** (roaring, swinging the Halberd again): "THIS IS!!"

(Valak does 22 STUN after defenses this time. Shadow Destroyer is beginning to run out of STUN)

(DEX 30. Shadow Destroyer retaliates with a 30d6 Darkblast that hits Valak for 12 STUN after defenses, knocking him the length of the lab away. He now has enough time to abort his segment 6 action and put a gauntlet on his time machine)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!)

(and with that, Shadow Destroyer teleports out. Valak, having caught himself in mid-air before hitting the far wall of the lab, now looks at TASK FORCE as he drifts closer to them)

 **Starforce** (small voice): "Oh crap..."

 **Valak** : "WAS THAT *COWARD* THE BEST YOUR WORLD COULD OFFER ME?!?"

(segment 6, effective DEX 35. Ladyhawk barely misses Valak with an Energy Shuriken set for Adrenal Disruption)

(effective DEX 33. Valak wins the roll-off with Grandfather but holds his phase while casually spinning the Cosmic Halberd)

(also effective DEX 33. Grandfather holds his phase, too, waiting for the order to pull TASK FORCE out)

(Starforce wins the traditional mass DEX 30 roll-off and hits Valak with a pushed TK Offensive Strike for 14 STUN after defenses. He takes 1 more STUN bouncing off the back wall of the Lab)

 **Valak** (now taking his action): "Well done, little man! I nearly felt that. You should be honored, as your suffering will now be LEGENDARY!!"

(Starforce aborts his segment 8 to reallocate his forcefield to all PD as Valak flash-steps in front of him and swings the Cosmic Halberd)

 **Ladyhawk** : "STARFORCE!!"

(there is an intense flare of light as the Cosmic Halberd hits Starforce's forcefield. When everyone's vision clears, the Cosmic Halberd has rebounded AWAY from Starforce, who is still standing -- minus only 11 STUN) /* If you're playing along at home, Starforce just *bounced* an 8d6 APx2 HKA whose original roll had been 29 BODY and 87 STUN */

 **Starforce** (pointing at the Cosmic Halberd): "Hope you kept the receipt for that, champ. You *might* want your money back."

(Before Valak can express any shock over the failure of his most dreaded weapon, there is a sharp BOOOOM!!! of something entering the Speed Zone. Ranger blurs and reappears, having just CON-stunned Valak for 95 STUN after defenses)

 **Ranger** (to Grandfather, gasping): "Get us out of here!"

 **Grandfather** (taking HIS held action): "No problem!"

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

* * *

(DV-200 VTOL, Southwestward-bound, west of White Sands Missile Range. 15 minutes later)

(the pilot of one of the regular, cargo-carrying flights from Kirtland AFB sits behind the controls of the VTOL, eyes glazed and otherwise mind-controlled. Menton relaxes in the co-pilot's seat next to him)

 **Menton** : "It was most polite of you to stay around so I could leave my previous accomodations."

(the pilot doesn't answer)

 **Menton** : "Not much of a conversationalist, are we?" (sighs) "You'll have to do until I can get to Hermosillo and meet up with Kevin Poe and Mind Slayer."

(he sits back and contemplates the desert 30,000 feet below them)

 **Menton** : "I certainly hope that my loss of both psychokinesis and psychokinetic transmission is but a temporary problem. I *definitely* do not like the prospect of being dependent on others to achieve my aims if it isn't!"

(beat, then a burst of static from the radio gets his attention)

 **Radio** : "Chuckwagon 43, UHF comm check."

(Menton riffles through the pilot's mind)

 **Menton** : "His call sign was Chuckwagon 43. That could be a problem."

(he sends a mental command to the pilot. The VTOL goes into a dive)

 **Menton** : "We'll level out below 30 meters and cross the border at low altitude. We may not make it to Hermosillo with the fuel we have left if we have to stay at low altitude."

(annoyed, he turns the radio off)

 **Menton** (concentrating): "Time to let my allies in PSI know that there is a slight change in my travel itinerary."

* * *

(Twelve O'Clock Knob, outside Salem VA. 15 minutes later)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (firing full-powered Darkblast): "I SAID I wanted to be ALONE!!"

(The Corrupted One that was the current target of Shadow Destroyer's wrath, as per his master's policy within his bases, was not wearing armor or deflection bracers. That's why he's dying before he impacts the far wall of the chamber)

(long pause, as the Corrupted One bleeds out)

 **Shadow Destroyer** (pointing to two Harnessed Shadows by the door, then to the dead Corrupted One): "Get that out of here."

(the Harnessed Shadows wordlessly comply, carrying the corpse out with them. Shadow Destroyer is now alone with the holotank)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Seven years. Seven years I've been in this accursed timeline and STILL I cannot revert it to my own!!"

(he smashes a gautleted fist down on the edge of the Holotank. The glass cracks but holds. Beat, then he pulls up an image of Earth that spins and focuses on Easter Island)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "The damned Empyreans have retrieved the Mandragalore's Fuel Core from the wreckage of my aerial island and they WILL be prepared for another raid on Arcadia this time should I attempt it!" /* "The Island of Shadow Destroyer" */

(the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex becomes the focus)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "The guard around the Renton boy is as tight as ever. Thank you SO much, Starforce and Ladyhawk..." /* "Castle Doctrine" */

(the tank now focuses on the northern parts of Sumatra)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Whatever dimensional rift had been left over by the Toba Cataclysm was closed by Robert Caliburn's hand back in 2002. Damn him." /* "Shadows Out of Darkness" */

(the Obsidian Caves become the focus)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Captain Chronos was obviously working with Starforce to close the dimensional rift which HAD been there." /* "Jungles of Guamanga" */

(Washington DC is now the focus)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Representative Sutherland's guard is up against any further attempts at the spirit who granted his powers." /* "Nine-Tenths of the Law" */

(he powers the Holotank down)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "And the only other source of power that was available to me has LEFT THE PLANET!!"

(his scream of frustration echoes through the chamber)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "How could I have MISSED that Albert Zerstoiten *faked* his suicide in Detroit?!? Absent his intervention, I would have SUCCEEDED!"

(long pause, as he paces around the Holotank)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "Perhaps I should try finding out how HE was able to travel through time! Now *there* is a project worthy of my intellect and resources!"

(he turns back to the Holotank and begins working the controls)

 **Shadow Destroyer** : "It's better than relying on the Edomite's ritual three years from now. I would prefer not to depend on THAT contingency if I don't have to."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II. Simultaneous with previous scene)

(TASK FORCE is back in more comfortable clothes. Julie is attempting to secure an icepack to a shirtless Bob roughly where Valak's Cosmic Halberd had hit him)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Hold STILL, dammit!"

 **Starforce** : "I'm FINE, Ninjette! The bruise will heal on its own..."

 **Ghostbane** : "Why did we leave? We HAD Valak..."

 **Grandfather** : "We weren't there to fight Valak, Jason. We were there to keep Doctor Destroyer from doing whatever he was going to do with the Cosmic Halberd."

 **Thelambra** : "By the time we got to the lab he was *already* doing something with it! What?"

 **Ranger** : "It looked like a portal."

 **Starforce** : "It was a portal."

 **Ranger** : "He already HAS teleportation! What was he doing with it?"

 **Starforce** : "Based on the sensor readings I took, travelling through time."

(incredibly shocked pause, held gaze. Julie even stops fidgeting with the ice pack on Bob's shoulder)

 **Ranger** (slowly): "Are you sure?"

 **Starforce** (repositioning the ice pack for Julie): "Positive. The readings were similar to those I took in Guamanga four years ago when Captain Chronos originally kidnapped Jason Renton." /* "Jungles of Guamanga" */

 **Ranger** : "Do you have any idea where or when he went?"

 **Starforce** : "Spatially, he didn't go too far away from Stronghold. Temporally... the error bars there were plus or minus 46 years. Basically sometime between 1963 and 2055."

 **Ranger** : "You can't narrow it down any further?"

 **Starforce** : "I believe everyone here remembers my lecture on the impossibility of precise temporal navigation in the absence of a closed time-like loop in history so I'll spare you all a repeat of it. No, I can't."

 **Ladyhawk** (finally satisfied with the ice pack on Bob): "On the bright side, he didn't look so good when he came back to our time. Whenever he went, he got beat up pretty bad."

 **Ranger** : "So it sounds like that someday we'll find out what he attempted to change in history and stop him. That's good news." (beat) "I think."

 **Grandfather** : "Out of curiosity, why was there a prison break in progress when we arrived?"

 **Ranger** (sighs): "Reconstructing events between what we know and what PRIMUS now knows, Doctor Destroyer had infiltrated Stronghold before we got there. When he made his move for the Halberd, the first thing he apparently did was to wake Menton from hot sleep."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Oh. Crap!"

 **Ranger** : "Yeah." (beat) "Things get more confusing from there, but it appears that within a minute of *that*, Menton had control of every staff person in Stronghold and had shut down both teleport interdiction and power negation prison-wide. Then, to create a distraction for his OWN escape, he released all the inmates."

 **Grandfather** (grimly): "Which gave Doctor Destroyer all the distraction *he* needed for whatever he was attempting to change in history."

 **Ranger** : "Layers upon layers of misdirection. That's what I'M supposed to do to villains!" (beat) "I'm *really* beginning to hate Destroyer."

 **Thelambra** : "How many escaped?"

 **Ranger** (beat): "59, which includes all but one of the inmates that was in hot-sleep." (grim) "The biggest breakout in the facility's history."

 **Starforce** (t-shirt now back on): "Valak escaped?"

 **Ranger** : "With his halberd and armor."

 **Starforce** (muttered, exercising his shoulder): "And I just fought him when he was at low power. Crap."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Anyone else we know among the escapees?"

 **Ranger** : "James Hailey."

 **Starforce** : "There's a blast from the past."

 **Thelambra** : "Who was the hot-sleep inmate who didn't make it out?"

 **Ranger** : "Copycat blundered into a cross-fire between supervillains and guards before she could get out." (beat) "She's dead."

 **Ladyhawk** (beat): "Oh."

 **Grandfather** : "At least we stopped Doctor Destroyer again and he can no longer use the Cosmic Halberd."

 **Ranger** : "Neither of which happened the way they were intended to. It doesn't feel like a victory to me, Reverend."

(awkward pause)

 **Ranger** : "We're done for tonight, guys. Go home. Get some rest."

(he turns for the door of the Simulator room, arm in arm with Olivia)

 **Ranger** (over his shoulder): "Lord knows *I* won't be getting any for the next month."

* * *

**EPILOGUE** : Trinity National Historic Site, sometime in April 1986.

(Doctor Destroyer stands dispassionately among the ruins of his younger self's research outpost at the Trinity Site, looking off towards the southern horizon. Dialing the telescopic vision of his sensors to maximum, he can now resolve the massed force of helicopters frantically clawing their way northbound)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (murmured, to himself): "The joint PRIMUS-Army strike force that arrived here in 1986 found nothing but wreckage. Even this era could have detected invisibility, out-of-phase objects, or followed an electrogravitic flight trail." (beat) "That means something will occur in the next minute to insure that I am NOT stranded in this time-period."

(It only takes 30 seconds. His suit's sensors register the dimensional ripple before he sees it swirl into being behind him. The swirl is pinkish-white, and based on what he is detecting on his sensor suite obviously from Vanshakarana)

 **Dr. Destroyer** : "About time. I wonder who Rakshasa contacted?"

(after a long moment, Starforce in his modern armor leans through the portal and looks around the damage and destruction left by both battles that day)

 **Dr. Destroyer** (beat): "Aren't you going to say anything, Dr. Hawkins?"

 **Starforce** : "As a matter of fact, I am."

(he extends an arm toward Destroyer) 

**Starforce** (continuing): "Come with me if you want to live."

(Destroyer smiles briefly behind his helmet, remembering an evening at the Wise Observatory in 1990) /* "Extinction Event" */

 **Dr. Destroyer** (internal monologue): [[I wonder whatever became of Dr. Shapiro?]] (taking Starforce's arm) "And the circle is finally complete."

(Starforce pulls Doctor Destroyer through the portal)

* * *

(fin)


End file.
